“Freedom Has Failed”

This quote from Atlas Shrugged, from the villain Wesley Mouch, chilled me. The context is that Mouch and his gang have passed directive after directive, slowly strangling the economy. Mouch is considering the imposition of new, more expansive controls:

Freedom has been given a chance and has failed. Therefore, more stringent controls are necessary. Since men are unable and unwilling to solve their problems voluntarily, they must be forced to do it. (page 503, 35th Anniversary Edition)

This quote immediately made me think of the health-policy debate in Colorado. How many times have “reformers” blamed the allegedly “free market” in medicine — for the problems caused by decades of federal and state political controls? Since men are unable and unwilling to purchase “comprehensive” health insurance “voluntarily,” they must be forced to do it.